UEFA Champions League Interview

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EA breaks down its upcoming club soccer title.

By Jonathan Miller

UEFA Champions League 2006-2007 is a little more than a month from its March release, but we can't get enough details on EA's upcoming soccer title, its 97th soccer game in the last 36 months. While the next-gen version has plenty to do, it's on the PSP, PC and PS2 that this game if fully loaded, with more teams, more modes and more weather. We have questions. Producer Matt Holme has answers. Read on.

IGN: First off, how many teams will there be in the game?

Matt Holme: We have 268 teams from 17 leagues. We've ensured that every major team from all of the major European leagues is present in the game. In addition the game boasts 49 stadiums from around the world.

IGN: Tell us about the Treble? Is this manager mode specifically for Champions League?

Holme: There is a lot more to it than that. The Treble mode is a completely new feature which takes everything you could possibly imagine occurring in a football season and builds it into an event that plays out like a story.

As the Manager of your team you'll be dealing with transfers, player injuries, player controversies, youth players, directions from the board and everything else a Manager has to deal with during a rigorous season. Your goal is to win the elusive Treble. This means taking home not only the Champions League Trophy, but the Domestic League and Cup silverware as well.

Every event inside The Treble is mission based, meaning not only do you have to win, but you have to ensure certain objectives are achieved as well. Some of the twists and turns that our design team has thrown into these story-based missions are really quite compelling and you'll definitely be surprised as to how deep and intriguing The Treble is as you play through it.

IGN: It sounds like you get to play through normal league matches as well as the Champions League schedule. What are the challenges of being a Champions League team and having to play in your own league?

Holme: You certainly do get to play through League and Cup matches as well. We realize that one of the biggest challenges for a Manager or player in a season is being able to cope through a campaign that not only involves a Champions League schedule, but the day to day responsibilities of a Domestic League and Cup season. We wanted to ensure we gave the user more than what they expected. So by adding the Cup and League matches along with the Champions League schedule, the game is going to be offering a lot more than just the standard package you may have come to expect from a licensed sports title. Of course though, if you're just a Champions League enthusiast and don't want to bother with League and Cup matches, the complete Champions League campaign can be played from the Group Stages onwards in our Tournament mode.

IGN: We love historic challenges. What are some of the great ones included in the Champions League Challenge mode?

Holme: Glad to hear that, because we've included over 40 in the game in the Ultimate Challenge mode. We've broken them up into sections, ranging from classic matches that took place during League matches Champions League qualification spots (e.g. Arsenal's final game last season at Highbury where they had to beat Wigan to pip Spurs for 4th spot) all the way up to the most memorable of Finals victories. For example, we throw you into the 89th minute of the 1998-99 Final where Man United is trailing 1-0 against Bayern Munich. You have a corner and a couple of minutes to recreate the historic closing moments of that match.

IGN: Tell us about some of the cool unlockables in the store and the history book?

Holme: When you've got a game as detailed as UEFA Champions League 2006-2007 you need somewhere to track your progress. This is what the History Book is for. As you progress through out the various modes of the game, the teams you beat, the tournaments you win, the records you break, are all tracked inside the History Book that contains some 400 odd objectives. Each objective carries a certain point's reward which you can use to unlock items from the Store.

The Store is packed with items like footballs (we have every authentic Champions League football dating back to 2000) to new pitch textures and stadiums. One of the coolest unlockable stadiums is the virtual UEFA Ultimate Stage stadium. We have actually recreated the stadium that is seen in the official UEFA Champions League intro video on TV.